The twilight spear had done its work with surgical precision. Tommy's small head lay at an unnatural angle against the gnarled root of an ancient oak, his ocean-blue eyes staring sightlessly at the canopy above.
The neck had been severed cleanly, leaving behind a gaping wound that was fountaining dark red liquid across the forest floor. The dark forest ground was now stained and washed with blood.
As the scarlet blood continued to spill out however, its color darkened the more it leaked and soon it matched the darkness of the sunless sky.
Viscous black ichor seeped from the wound like crude oil, pooling beneath the small body in patterns that seemed to writhe with their own malevolent life. The substance steamed in the cool night air, releasing vapors that made the nearby vegetation wither and blacken at the edges.
This was a sign that whatever essence the creature's blood carried with it, it had an affinity for corruption and corroding.
Valer's enhanced senses recoiled from the scene before him. The disturbing spiritual sense radiating from the corpse was unlike anything he had encountered in his years serving the City of Silver. It was wrongness given form, an affront to the natural order that made his very soul ache with dread.
'I Need to report all of these matters to the Six-Member Council immediately. They have to know of the imminent threat we're dealing with, something completely beyond our understanding!'
His mind raced as he began to turn away from the gruesome scene. An unknown enemy with the power to perfectly mimic human children. The ability to mutate citizens and beyonders alike into monsters without leaving behind characteristics. And now this—a creature that wore death like a uniform, playing at mortality while harboring something far more terrible beneath.
But as he took his first step back toward the opposite direction, his honed combat instincts flared. Whatever it was that was now behind him, wasn't dead.
He turned slowly, expecting to see the same grotesque tableau he had left behind: Tommy's severed head with the small body in its pool of black ichor.
Instead, he witnessed something that would haunt his dreams for years to come.
The boy's head was melting into pure flesh.
Not decomposing, but dissolving - actively liquefying like wax held too close to flame. The cherubic features that had fooled him so completely were running together in streams of pink and white, the ocean-blue eyes deflating like punctured balloons. Hair, skin, muscle, bone—all of it reduced to formless organic matter that pooled and gathered with purposeful intent.
'What...is that thing...?
The blood on the ground began to steam more violently, reaching a rolling boil that sent clouds of acrid vapor into the air. The very earth beneath it hissed and bubbled as if the creature's essence was so caustic it could melt stone. And through it all, that terrible feeling inside of Valer grew stronger and stronger, filling every single part of his body with unease and fear.
Then the body moved.
With jerky, unnatural motions, the headless corpse rolled onto its knees in the boiling blood. Its small hands—still perfectly formed despite the grotesque transformation occurring above—reached out toward the puddle of liquefied flesh that had once been Tommy's face.
For a moment, his thoughts stalled, unable to reconcile what he had just witnessed with the framework of known logic.
Valer watched in fascinated horror as the creature's fingers made contact with the molten remains of its head. The flesh responded immediately, flowing like liquid mercury up the thing's arm in defiance of gravity. Veins and arteries became visible beneath the skin as the organic matter traveled upward, pulsing with unholy life.
'I mustn't let it finish!'
He reactivated his Light of Dawn, pouring spiritual energy into the ability until it blazed like a miniature silver sun all around him. The brilliant radiance had always been effective against creatures of corruption and shadow. It was fully charged with the power to purify and cleanse all that was dark and evil.
The light washed over the deformed kneeling figure, yet nothing happened.
'Impossible. My light should purify any evil spirit or monster completely that's trapped in it's radius! What power does this being possess to withstand a mid-sequence beyonder attack!?
The melted flesh reached the creature's neck, and Valer's enhanced vision caught every horrifying detail of what happened next. The severed stump began to sprout miniscule tendrils of flesh - writhing worms of pink meat that emerged from the wound like some obscene flowering.
Each tendril moved with purpose, reaching and grasping, slowly beginning to weave themselves into the basic structure of a new head. Valer could see hints of skull forming from condensed cartilage, the suggestion of a jaw taking shape from reformed bone. It was regeneration on a scale that defied all comprehension.
"This is beyond any healing ability I've ever encountered." This time, the man unknowingly spoke out loud just from the sheer shock and terror of the situation.
All he knew now was that this terrifying creature was rebuilding itself.
And He really could not let it finish this time.
Valer rushed forward, his Twilight Dawn Weaponry ability manifesting in his hands. The Sword of Dawn materialized, a construct of pure spiritual energy forged from twilight itself. The weapon hummed with power, its crystalline edge capable of cutting through both matter and spirit.
The sword swept down in a perfect shining arc, cleaving through the creature's torso at the waist at a diagonal angle. The blow was flawless, executed with the precision of a veteran soldier and empowered by abilities that could cut through steel.
The creature instantly split in half, its upper body toppling backward while its legs remained kneeling in the boiling blood. For a moment, Valer felt a surge of grim satisfaction. Surely no creature could regenerate from such catastrophic damage while also being headless.
But no blood nor black ichor flowed flowed from the wound this time.
The separated pieces began to move immediately, crawling toward each other with disturbing purpose. As they touched, the flesh began to merge and flow, losing all semblance of human anatomy. Arms melted into legs. Torso dissolved into a formless mass. The partially-formed head collapsed back into raw organic matter.
'Its regenerating much faster than before.'
Valer grimly watched in mounting horror as the creature's remains gathered into a single, pulsating mass. Bones, muscle, skin, hair, teeth, eyes—all of it mixed together in a grotesque amalgamation that defied description. The blob writhed and churned, organs and features appearing and disappearing within its substance like fish swimming in murky water.
For a moment, even Valer with all of his experience and knowledge of the world wanted to vomit the contents of his stomach out.
Then, with horrifying speed, the mass began to compress and reshape itself. The chaotic swirl of organic matter condensed, forming basic limbs and a torso. Within seconds, a small humanoid figure stood where the blob had been—featureless and smooth, like a clay sculpture that had yet to receive its final details.
The featureless face turned toward him, and though it had no eyes, Valer felt the weight of its attention like a physical blow. When it spoke, its voice came from everywhere and nowhere, echoing from the very substance of its being.
But the voice was high-pitched and child-like, sounding like a little girl who was still in grade school.
"You're finally beginning to understand, Valer" it said, and the words carried harmonics that made the air itself shiver. "I am not like you. I do not live nor die by the rules of humans or monsters. I am beyond anything you or any mortal can comprehend. I am a God!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The voice then started to manically laugh as its back was halfway bent and its featureless face pointed towards the sky.
"Who Are You, How do you know my name!?" This time Valer shouted out of pure alarm. For he knew this creature that proclaimed itself to be a deity had the strength to back up its claim.
The creature's form began to shift again, features slowly emerging from the smooth surface. But this time, it wasn't Tommy's face that appeared, nor any other child from the orphanage. Instead, Valer watched with growing unease as the thing took on an entirely new appearance.
What emerged was the form of a young woman with youthful features, perhaps in her early twenties, with long golden hair that seemed to shimmer with an inner light. Her characteristics were devastatingly beautiful—the kind of beauty that could stop armies and topple kingdoms.
But there was something predatory in her smile, something that spoke of ancient hungers and terrible appetites.
"Much better," she said, her voice now carrying a melodious quality that seemed to resonate in his bones. "That child's form was so... limiting. I am Capella Emerada Lugunica, and I have so much more to offer you."
'Capella. That name... why does it feel familiar?...That's right! That little girl from all those years back who was blessed by the creator!'
"I know what you're thinking, Valer," she whispered, her voice silken and precise, each syllable unfolding like the petals of a poisonous flower. Her steps were soundless, but her presence pressed against the air—too vivid, too sharp.
"You're wondering what I am. Where I come from. What I want. But the answers, dear soldier, are much more complicated than your mind dares to even accept."
As she spoke, Valer felt his thoughts lurch—an almost imperceptible skewing, as if the axis of his mind had been tilted by unseen hands. Doubt crept in like a fog. Was he too quick to judge her? After all, she was radiant—divine even. There was power in her voice. In her gaze. And power... power was worthy of reverence.
"I can see it in your eyes," Capella continued. "That faint glimmer of understanding. You've now glimpsed true strength. You've bled for the City of Silver. But what has that loyalty earned you? Your friend—Baldur—lies dead. Your people dwell in darkness that no light will ever breach. And you…"
She paused, her smile curving into something that barely concealed its contempt.
"You're nothing more than another discarded tool, expendable. Your life hanging by a thread that those above you can snip at any time."
Her words struck with more precision than any blade, slicing through defenses forged by duty and pride. Valer's breath caught in his throat. Unbidden, memories surged: the faces of comrades long perished, the hollow eyes of the hopeless, the endless night swallowing their world inch by inch. In that moment, a horrifying possibility took root—perhaps everything truly was futile. Perhaps this city... they were truly the last embers of the flames of humanity… flickering alone in a dead, forgotten world.
"But I," Capella whispered, stepping closer, "can offer you a path. A boone. Power enough to seize your fate… to redeem this city. All I ask is your devotion. Worship and love me as the Goddess I am."
Valer's vision blurred. Thoughts unraveled. His mind no longer felt like his own.
For the first time in his life, he questioned whether his strength had ever truly mattered.
He saw himself not as a guardian—but as a shadow. A man whose actions changed nothing. While the exploration teams carved open the darkness, he patrolled silent streets, awaiting a battle that never came.
A sickness swelled in him.Desire. Greed. The yearning to matter.
His knees completely buckled at this revelation.
The silver light of Dawn flickered as his body collapsed to the earth, trembling. His pupils constricted, and sweat beaded across his skin. The world around him faded into a dreamless void, and his consciousness retreated—trapped in a storm of longing and regret.
Capella watched with idle amusement, her eyes glinting like polished rose diamonds.
"How exquisite," she murmured, elation bubbling just beneath her words. "All of this… from but a taste of 'Her' fractured essence."
The girl turned slowly, stretching her limbs with the grace of a dancer. Her presence pulsed with divinity warped by desire. Where once her powers evoked only hunger, greed, or lust, within a target - thanks to her past abilities; now they shaped every desire—envy, rage, longing, delusion.
Her sequence nine Scrooge and Lust Factor traits had bloomed into something far greater.
"I've no need to wait now," she whispered to herself. "With this, I'll walk among the exploration teams as a Deity among blind worms."
With a lighthearted skip, she moved toward the fallen Valer. One gloved hand reached down, fingers curling beneath his chin. Her smile became a cruel mask of pity.
"Valer," she cooed. "You'll be my knight now. The living embodiment of Greed in this poor city. You shall want— and desire, until the end of all things."
She leaned forward and pressed her lips gently to his forehead. Forming a deep and passionate kiss onto his skin.
The contact broke whatever fragile tether remained in Valer's soul. His eyes fluttered open, glassy and unseeing, yet fixed upon her with reverence. Tears uncontrollably spilled down his cheeks.
"Th-thank you… My Lord… I don't deserve your love…"
He crumpled against her, weeping like a child lost in a thunderstorm. Each sob echoed with the emptiness of someone hollowed out from within.
Capella smiled fully now, her teeth catching the dim light like polished daggers.
"There, there," she whispered, devilishly stroking the back of his head. "Love me as you do now. And know— this encounter was always inevitable because of one thing."
Her resonating voice rang out into the area, creating contrasting sounds to the lightning and thunder above them.
"Because God loves the world, and she wants everybody in it - to love her back."